The Dyadic Structural Integration Model: A Stage-Informed Architecture of Relational Stability
Abstract
Relational research has predominantly relied on dimensional constructs such as attachment insecurity and differentiation of self to explain dyadic functioning. While empirically productive, these approaches often conceptualize relational stability as the aggregation of individual traits rather than as an emergent structural configuration. This article introduces the Dyadic Structural Integration Model (DSIM), a stage-informed theoretical architecture that formalizes relational stability as the interaction of developmental maturity, dyadic repair capacity, structural differentiation balance, and fear–shame polarity. Its operational index, the Dyadic Structural Integration Index (DSII), specifies how these parameters combine through multiplicative and asymmetry-sensitive functions to produce varying degrees of relational integration. The model advances conditional and falsifiable propositions, including the claim that polarity complementarity stabilizes dyads only when joint repair capacity exceeds a threshold. Drawing on psychoanalytic developmental theory and contemporary relational science, DSIM seeks not to replace existing frameworks but to reorganize them within a structurally explicit schema. Implications for couple research, developmental theory, and multilevel relational systems are discussed.